Another Auld Lang Syne
by ScorplinginTraining
Summary: It's a brand new year with endless new possibilities. But what if all you truly want is your old life back. A dash of fluff. A tiny sprinkling of humor. And a touch of angst. Happy 2019 to all!


ANOTHER AULD LANG SYNE

 **AN: Happy 2019, to all my fellow Waige shippers. This one's for you!**

She didn't really see the point. So she hadn't dated since the break up. What was the big deal? She was _busy_!

But all of her friends, genius and normal alike, kept telling her to 'get back out there'.

It seemed a bit like providence, therefore, when Paige ran into Vadat at a job fair. After a few minutes of chatting, he'd asked her if she'd like to accompany him to the Vor Collective's New Year's Eve Mixer. She was about to gently turn him down when it occurred to her it was actually the perfect set up. It would get her friends to stop nagging, she wasn't in danger of getting emotionally hung up on her date and, best of all, she had zero chance of running into her ex. The explosive diarrhea incident surely got him banned from Vor for life.

Not to mention it would get her out of the house. Lately, she'd been one step away from becoming a bona fide hermit. If it wasn't work or Ralph related, she rarely left the condo.

Paige felt slightly guilty about going out with Vadat when she wasn't really interested in him, so deciding to be the best date ever, she forced herself to buy a new dress, get the mani/pedi she desperately needed and do all the routine self-maintenance she'd been neglecting for a while. She even bought herself some new perfume and make-up, hoping if she looked and smelled exquisite it would boost her confidence and lift her sagging spirits.

When she met him at the entrance of the venue, Vadat's obviously appreciative reaction to all of her efforts was gratifying and she gave him a dazzling smile as a reward.

"Wow. You look amazing," he complimented, his wide eyes taking in all the details of her upswept hair, spangled, silver dress and matching heels.

"Thank you," she returned amiably, "You look great too." And he did. He really did. Paige just wished it had more of an effect on her.

He held out his arm, and doing her best not to dwell on the memory of Walter doing the same thing, albeit awkwardly, at Jacques LeBeau's party, she placed her fingers lightly on the inside of his elbow.

She also tried not to notice Vadat was a good four inches shorter than her. But it was hard not to notice when his chin was roughly level with her cleavage. She figured she should've gone with the flats. Okay, so she might be a second best date ever?

"Ready?" He asked eagerly. Paige gave him what she hoped was an encouraging smile as they strolled inside.

Vadat seemed to take a long time checking them in at the kiosk, his eyes carefully scanning the guest list as if he wanted to memorize it.

"Are we all set?" Paige inquired after a few long minutes, wondering if he'd forgotten to add her as his plus one or something. The line behind them was beginning to lengthen and people kept glancing impatiently at their watches.

Her question seemed to jar him back to the present. He slid their nametags off of the counter and, after handing hers over, he gave her a charming grin. "All set."

Paige took his arm again and as they descended the stairs into the bright, glittering ballroom, she said, "Thank you for inviting me, Vadat."

"My pleasure."

It was too bad his genial reply was an _unpleasant_ reminder of a very close encounter with Walter when he'd broken her fall in that stupid bat cave in New Mexico. She remembered every detail of what it felt like to lay on top of him. The warmth of his body. The pounding of both of their hearts caused by much more than a fifty foot drop.

Why did all of her thoughts always gravitate toward _him_? Why did everything always remind her of _him_? Still. After all this time? Why couldn't she just have an enjoyable, uncomplicated evening out with another guy for a change?

Enough was enough. With new determination strengthening her resolve, she decided she would mingle and flirt with whomever she chose and dance the night away. Nothing or _no one_ was going to stop her. Paige Dineen was going to have a fabulous time.

Even if it killed her.

"Can I get you something to drink?" Vadat offered politely.

"I'd love some champagne, please." Oh, yes. She was going to celebrate. Out with the old and in with the new, right?

Wrong.

At the very same second her date took off to get her drink, she literally _felt_ his eyes on her. His gaze shivered slowly down her exposed spine like a caress. The plunging back of her dress offered absolutely no buffer.

Paige was compelled to turn. She had no choice.

And there he was.

Walter.

What the hell. He wasn't supposed to be there.

Electricity shot to her fingertips, making them tingle. Her pulse throbbed in her wrists, thumped in her ears. He was as beautiful as ever and the sight stopped the breath in her lungs. All the months apart suddenly dropped away and she was every bit as in love as she had been when she last saw him.

Damn him.

It was just possible they were both damned. Twice.

"What are you doing here?" The two of them said at once.

He snorted out a laugh in the same uncomfortable way she remembered… and clearly still found too annoyingly adorable.

"Oh, um… I was of, uh, service to one of the members of the board. I saved her and her company from… Anyway, she got me reinstated as a 'thank you'."

Vadat chose that moment to walk back up carrying two champagne flutes.

"O'Brien," he nodded at Walter as he passed a glass to Paige, "I heard they allowed you back in. I'll be sure to avoid the iced tea or anything else on the rocks tonight."

Walter gave the other man a sheepish smile, "Oh, don't worry. I left all the experimental pathogens at home for this event." Then he frowned, "Wait. Are you two here… together?"

Vadat smirked and shrugged before something on the dance floor caught his attention.

Paige had no chance to reply to Walter as her date grasped her by the elbow and all but hauled her behind him, steering her in the direction of the other dancers. His pace was such that she teetered on her spiky heels and some champagne slopped over the rim of her flute. At the same time she slammed into another dancing couple causing the man's dress shoe to slip in the small puddle of spilled wine. He fell on his butt with a crash, dragging his date down on top of him.

Only wanting to help, Paige reached down to give the woman a hand, and in the process, poured the rest of her drink on the fallen man's cummerbund. The shaken woman struggled to stand and the skirt of her dress loudly tore loose from the bodice and puddled around her feet. The distraught dancer tugged and tugged trying to pull her skirt up so she could decently cover her siren red thong. Among other things.

Paige looked down and quickly discovered one of her own spike heels was effectively tacking the woman's skirt to the floor.

Now the whole crowded room was staring. No one was watching where they were going. Dancers were bumping into each other and were systematically stumbling and falling down all over the room like dominoes.

Vadat stepped away from Paige, his face filled with humiliation and horror as he surveyed the damage.

A gorgeous woman in a flame-colored, wrap-around dress slinked sensuously up beside him, her expression carefully blank except for a single raised eyebrow. "Hmm. Seems your taste in companions has turned distinctly… dumb and crude since we split."

"Hey! Watch it," Paige defended herself hotly when her date didn't.

Haughty dark eyes raked over Paige briefly before Vadat's ex turned her back dismissively and stepped over the legs of the nearest fallen dancer, strolling away, her nose pointed in the air.

If the universe was fair, the bitch would've tripped. But she didn't. Stupid universe.

"I think you should go. Now," Vadat urged out of one corner of his mouth as if embarrassed to be seen talking to Paige.

"Yes. Please go," the man with a spreading champagne stain on his waistcoat agreed.

Paige's eyes swept over the man's dancing partner, taking in her ruined dress, the skirt now clutched at her waist in clenched fists, "I'm really sorry…" She began.

"Please do leave," the woman snapped.

No handy hole opened up in the floor to swallow her, so Paige quickly scanned the huge room for a clear path to the exit. At the same time she couldn't avoid the hostile stares as well as the pointing and harsh whispers as several limping people passed by her. Her face burned with shame.

She felt a gentle touch on her arm. She briefly turned her hot face into Walter's shoulder.

"What do you care what a bunch of Nerd Turds think?" He murmured the welcome words against her ear. The very same ones she'd spoken to him a lifetime ago about the exact same group of people.

"Let's get out of here." He placed a hand at the small of her back, and plotting the most efficient route, guided her outside.

He wisely left her sitting on a secluded bench in the courtyard and went back inside to collect her wrap. While Paige waited, she peeled the Vor Collective nametag off, tore it into a pile of shreds and swept it into the offending and now empty champagne glass before setting the whole mess in a convenient nearby planter. She never wanted to see another thing with the Vor logo on it again as long as she lived. The goddess of wisdom could suck it.

She kicked off her silver heels and massaged her aching arches. As sore as her feet now were, she was glad she'd worn the torturous footwear. She sincerely hoped she made Vadat look one tenth as ridiculous as she currently felt. Creep.

Then, refusing to question why it mattered, she took her compact out of her tiny, silver clutch purse and gave herself a quick once over before carefully touching up her lipstick.

Who was she kidding? It was only Walter. He'd already seen her in every conceivable way. Even without all of her 'beauty products'.

" _All I see is the most beautiful woman I've ever seen."_

She shuddered with the emotions that memory evoked.

"Oh, I'm sorry." Walter appeared at her side while she was deep in her reverie. "You're cold. I should've left my jacket with you."

He perched beside her and draped the wrap around her shoulders, his proximity making her shiver for an altogether different reason.

"Thank you, Walter. I appreciate the rescue. I owe you for saving my life. One more time."

The genius looked puzzled. "I don't believe your life was ever in danger. But I couldn't let those people talk to you like that. I guess they are a little bit like circling sharks, come to think of it. We'd know all about that, wouldn't we?" He finished with a grin.

Paige chuckled. "Vadat certainly wasn't swimming off to create a distraction to give me time to get away either."

The smile dropped from Walter's face. "How long have you two been dating?"

"Oh, we're not. We ran into each other at a job fair and he asked me to come with him tonight. I may not be a Mensa candidate, but it became plain pretty fast he only brought me tonight to make his ex jealous. Jerk. This was our first and last date."

"His loss. He doesn't realize yet how good he had it. Just think, he could've brought that shrew you accidentally stripped."

Paige hid her face in her hands. "Don't remind me. Poor woman. I really can't blame her for being mad."

"True enough, I guess. But she should definitely rethink her choice of undergarments."

She gaped at him. "Got an eyeful, did you? A woman chooses the layer closest to her body to make _herself_ feel beautiful, you know. Even if no one else gets to see."

"I can't understand why a permanent wedgie would make anyone feel beautiful, especially when one's buttocks are roughly twice as large as normal."

A laugh burst out of Paige before she could stifle it. She smacked Walter's shoulder playfully. "You're terrible. It wasn't twice…"

"Trust me. I can estimate distance and weight accurately. And likely so can everyone else in that room. Now if you'd been the one wearing the thong... Your bottom is quite lovely."

She slapped at him, now giggling uncontrollably in his all-too-serious face. "Stop it," she chuckled when she could catch her breath. "You really are terrible."

He grinned. "It's a simple fact. I wrote a song about your booty once."

"You did _not_!"

"I did. Ask Happy. She wouldn't let me sing it to you."

"What?! Happy knows about this and I don't?"

"She's… Well, she _was_ my friend. I was asking for her advice on songwriting since she had a hit single once."

"Oh, come on, Walter. She's still your friend. I know you've talked. She and Toby have both done consulting jobs for Scorpion 2.0 occasionally." Guilt made Paige's answer sound argumentative and kind of nasty to her own ears.

"Yes. You're right. Of course."

A loaded silence fell as the unspoken words 'It's not the same' loudly hovered between them.

Paige was about to suggest they leave when Walter quietly asked, "How is Sylvester?"

She decided to be honest. "Okay. But I know he misses you."

"I miss him too."

He looked so dejected, she reached out and covered his hand with hers. He laced their fingers together the way she'd taught him to do two years before. Their hands still fit perfectly.

Paige leaned against Walter as they both stared at the twinkling fairy lights in the trees for a few minutes.

"It's been enough time. You should probably call him. Especially now that Florence has moved away." When he looked surprised, she explained, "Cabe told me."

"I've composed about a dozen emails to him, but I can never seem to hit 'send'."

"Well, it's time you did, don't you think?"

He nodded absently as his thumb stroked hers. "By the way, I'm not sure I've ever thanked you properly for letting Ralph spend time with me. I… I don't know what I would've done…"

"Walter, no matter what, you were _always_ the best thing for my son."

"Just not for you," he replied softly.

Paige couldn't stand the sad tone and wasn't ready to address what it implied, so she opted to lighten the mood instead. "Oh, I don't know. We had some good times, didn't we? Like the time we had to get naked together at the nudist mud baths?"

"Yes. I had a tough time not staring at your 'bubbles' like that other guy…"

"No, that perv was _trying_ to get a good peek. At least you were attempting to be a gentleman. Or was it just so you wouldn't have a 'harder' time? What with all the nudity and the tingling gooties from the electrical current…"

They shared a laugh.

Then much more laughter ensued as they ended up talking and talking and talking about old times and things they'd learned and things they'd missed about the old Scorpion team. The subject switched to current events, challenging cases and interesting or annoying clients.

Paige lost track of time as the two of them sat shoulder to shoulder and hand in hand in their semi-private little haven catching up. Once in a while someone would walk outside for a smoke or to answer a phone call, but the bench was in a darkened corner and no one disturbed or even noticed the couple. Music filtered out from the ballroom and lilted gently like a breeze around them lending the atmosphere a dreamy quality.

She felt lighter and happier than she had in months. Oh, how she'd missed this. Missed _them_. She had a fleeting notion that perhaps their shared experiences beyond what most people could imagine made them unique and only fit company for each other.

She expressed the thought to Walter. He fell quiet for a second, then he asked, "Why didn't you come back?"

"Why didn't you fight for us? Why didn't you come after me? What does a girl have to do? I mean, I sorta started a rival company to get your attention."

His face took on an astonished appearance, but he soon recovered. "Because I'm a clueless idiot?" His smile was rueful.

"Yeah? Me too. I realized I'd over-reacted about two minutes after I left. If I'm being strictly honest, which I know I should've encouraged our original plan for 'open communication' all along, I didn't fight for us either. At least not the right way. It's just… Well, I ran after Drew more times than I'd like to admit and I waited for him longer than I ever should've. And Tim gave up too. Very easily as it turned out. I guess I wanted you to… show I was worth the effort. But you never even called. The only contact I've had with you has been indirectly through Ralph or Cabe or Happy and Toby. After a while, I guess I figured you didn't want me back."

"I'm so stupid, Paige. I'm sorry. I didn't know. I thought you didn't love me any more. That my habits bored you and annoyed you."

"I didn't mean it," she whispered. "You're the only man who's ever mattered enough for me to get vindictive. I'm so sorry too."

She heard the orchestra play the opening bars to 'Same Auld Lang Syne'.

Paige hesitated for only a second before standing up barefoot in the little patch of grass around their bench. She held out her hand.

He accepted her invitation, setting his hand in hers and rising to stand beside her. As one, they embraced and started to sway, their only spotlight a thin, waning crescent of pale moon, the blinking fairy lights their only audience.

A saxophone wailed the distant song as the countdown began with ten. By seven they were gazing into each other's eyes and love made sense again. By five they'd stopped dancing and by two they were already kissing. They couldn't wait out those last two seconds. But they kept it up long after the horns blared and everyone inside shouted.

The only way for them to go forward was to go back. In other words, they started off the brand new year exactly right.


End file.
